Jesse Eisenberg has celebrated his Jewish roots and revealed that his next project will be a television series, after he presented his latest directorial effort, The Debut, at the BFI London Film Festival.
The actor-turned-director, best known for his starring roles in The Social Network and the Now You See Me franchise, discussed his latest film at a Screen Talk event ahead of its UK premiere on Sunday night.
Starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, The Debut follows Mona Friedman, a woman in her sixties long overlooked by her family and friends, who finds both acclaim and meaning through a role in a local amateur musical.
Halle Bailey also features in the cast, alongside Eisenberg himself, who takes a supporting role.
Moore described Mona's journey as a search for something missing from her life, which ultimately leads her towards a greater understanding of herself and the value of human connection.
Writing in Sight and Sound after the film's screening at the San Sebastián Film Festival, critic Neil Young described it as “a raucously entertaining crowdpleaser,” praising its ability to move between conventional comedy and more adventurous, unsettling territory.
Time Out was similarly enthusiastic, describing the film as “exuberantly funny and whip-smart” and awarding it five stars. The review praised Moore's portrayal of Mona, a woman who has become so accustomed to being ignored that the theatre offers her an opportunity to reclaim her place in the world.
The Guardian praised Moore as a “thrill”, but questioned whether the film's increasingly surreal direction always serves its emotional story. The review nevertheless highlighted the ambition of a film that moves beyond a conventional tale of self-discovery into something considerably stranger.
(L-R) Ryan Heller, BFI CEO Ben Roberts, Jesse Eisenberg, Julianne Moore, BFI Festivals Director Kristy Matheson, Marie-Claire Benson and Ali Herting attend 'The Debut' 2026 Closing Gala during the 70th BFI London Film Festival at the Royal Festival Hall on October 18, 2026 (Getty Images)Getty Images for BFI
The Debut includes seven original songs written by Eisenberg for its fictional musical, Nosy Neighbours, in which Mona finds herself caught up in the demands of an increasingly obsessive director, Jerry, played by Giamatti.
Speaking to Reuters before the London premiere, Eisenberg said he had written the lead specifically with Moore in mind.
“I just thought, this is Julianne Moore, and I will write every scene with her in mind and what she likes to do and what she’s great at,” he said.
During the Screen Talk event, he also reflected on his Jewish identity, his childhood in theatre, and the success of A Real Pain, his 2024 film about two Jewish-American cousins visiting Poland.
The film established Eisenberg, who obtained Polish citizenship in 2025, as a director and highlighted his work’s focus on how Jewish history shapes contemporary identity.
The plot follows cousins David and Benji, played by Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, who travel to Poland on a Holocaust heritage tour. Their contrasting responses to the journey become a way of examining grief, belonging, and the different ways people carry the past.
Culkin's performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2025, while Eisenberg won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
In his interview, Eisenberg briefly revisited the challenge of directing Culkin, joking that he had initially struggled to get the actor to follow his carefully planned staging.
“We didn’t know if Kieran was ever gonna show up to Poland,” he said.
He joked that Culkin, who became widely known for his portrayal of Roman Roy in Succession, might agree to a project before deciding he would rather do something else.
“He’s worth the risk because he’s so great,” Eisenberg said.
Eisenberg was also asked whether he intended to continue telling Jewish stories.
Describing his experience as an Ashkenazi Jew, he said that Jewish people can find themselves within “social circles” that have been “homogeneous throughout history” while also possessing an “outsider perspective”.
“Forgive me if whatever I just said was offensive to anybody in any way,” he told the audience. “This is how I think of myself and how I think of my relationship to my culture. I’m not speaking for Jews or any other culture.”
Eisenberg then spoke about his longstanding creative partnership with Emma Stone, whom he met while making Zombieland.
Stone's production company, Fruit Tree, has supported Eisenberg's directorial work, including When You Finish Saving the World, A Real Pain and The Debut.
Recalling their first meeting, Eisenberg said they discovered that they shared a taste for comedy despite their different public profiles.
“I met Emma when she was 20, and I was 25; we were doing Zombieland together,” he said. “And we had really similar taste.”
He described himself as fortunate that their early connection had developed into a working relationship in which Stone could help bring his projects to the screen.
“I couldn’t have foreseen that 15 years later, we’d be making movies together, except for the fact that it seems so obvious now,” he said.
The partnership has helped Eisenberg move beyond acting into a more substantial role as a writer-director, with A Real Pain in particular demonstrating that he could combine an intimate story with questions of broader historical significance.
He also revealed that he had written six episodes of a television series several years ago, which is due to be his next project.
“I wrote it for A24 [the production company behind The Debut] and [former Disney and Fox exec] Peter Rice, and it follows an 18-year-old girl in the fall of 2002,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s about the beginning of the culture wars that we’re in now, but it’s not pretentious or overly political, or maybe it is pretentious. That’s for you to decide.”
The Debut was the closing-night film of the 70th BFI London Film Festival and is scheduled to open in UK cinemas on 15 January 2027.
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